US/nuke summaries/Citiizen's Watch

[Marylia Kelley <marylia@igc.org>]

PRINT BITES: All the News That Fits to Print
by Marylia Kelley
from Tri-Valley CAREs December 1997 newsletter, Citizen's Watch

** More Plutonium Violations. Last month we published news of the 15
criticality violations committed by Livermore Lab during its preparation of
the underground "subcritical" nuclear test, HOLOG. This month Tri-Valley
CAREs learned there has been a new plutonium criticality violation at
Livermore. The word is that essentially all operations are now shut down in
the plutonium facility, and that the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board
has just quietly completed an inspection. We have document requests into
both DOE and DNFSB, and will update you when we obtain their reports.
Additionally, we have heard there is more to the story on the 15 prior
criticality violations than was written in the Lab's report. Stay tuned!

** Ron, You Will be Missed.
Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Oakland) recently announced he will retire
effective this coming February after serving 27 years in Congress. We wish
him the best of luck in his post-Congressional life, and hope that he can
give nuclear weapons a swift kick in the, uh, budget before leaving office.

** Nuclear Bay Area. Kudos to S.F. Examiner reporters Erin McCormick and
Jane Kay for their 3-part series on nuclear hazards in our communities,
including a profile of Livermore Lab.
Copies available on request.

** NYT Takes on SSM. In its lead editorial on Nov. 30, the New York Times
cautiously but firmly took the Dept. of Energy and the labs to task over
the so-called "Stockpile Stewardship" program. In calling for an
alternatives analysis, the editorial echoes a main theme in our current
lawsuit challenging the program. The newspaper concludes, "...the
stewardship program must not subsidize unrelated experimentation or allow
any effort to design and build more advanced weapons. The Congressional
Budget Office has proposed less expensive ways to assure weapons
reliability. One approach would be to consolidate the work at one of the
existing labs and do without the [national] ignition facility... Congress,
whose budget ax is so keen on social programs, owes taxpayers a
disinterested study to determine how far the stewardship program can safely
be cut." (Hint: the correct answer is-far.)

** Homeland Defense? The National Defense Panel released a report calling
on the U.S. to spend $5 billion to $10 billion a year to develop new
weapons and warfighting concepts as a "hedge" against unforeseen changes in
global security. The panel, created by Congress with its members appointed
by Secretary of Defense William Cohen, suggested crafting new, high-tech
military responses to potential 21st Century domestic threats, such as
terrorist attacks. The panel concluded the Pentagon should put itself in
the position to create an anti-missile defense over the U.S. (Star Wars
revised) "once we get a better idea of what the threats are," according to
one member. On a more positive note, the panel said the current structuring
of U.S. forces to fight two major foreign wars at the same time was
overblown, and it endorsed a lower limit for U.S. nuclear weapons.

** Leaking Waste. The DOE had long claimed that the 54 million gallons of
deadly wastes held in 177 underground tanks-about 67 of which are thought
to be leaking- at the Hanford reservation would not reach groundwater.
Well, it's there. New studies confirm radioactive waste from the tanks has
reached the water table 230 feet below. Next stop, Columbia River?

** Livermore Health Studies. Thanks to advocacy by the community members of
an advisory "site team" (including Tri-Valley CAREs), the DOE has
reinstated some monies for the CA state health department and the federal
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to continue assessing the
effects of the Livermore Lab on the health of the surrounding community. If
you are a Livermore resident wishing to get involved, please give us a
call. Public participation is our aim.